Lowes Travels

June 16-22 – Grand Canyon, Arizona

We interrupt our Postcards from Southeast Asia series of postings to insert our most recent exciting adventure. For seven days we were on board a motorized river rafting experience on the Colorado River at the bottom of Grand Canyon National Park.

Fair warning: This is a long post with lots of pictures, so float with us and, hang on tight.

When we were at Marble Canyon in 2019 (click here for that story) and saw groups of people getting ready for a river rafting trip on the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry, a new bucket list item was hatched. The idea was put on the back burner for several years as there were other exciting trips to be had with Betsy. Then recently a neighbor told us he had taken one of the trips and he gave it glowing reviews. We decided to revisit that bucket list item again.

It finally materialized and we were booked for a 7-day motorized rafting trip from June 16-22 with Hatch River Expeditions. Our trip included an overnight stay at at Cliff Dwellers Lodge prior to our trip launch, then spending 7 days at the bottom of Grand Canyon rafting the Colorado River (see map below) for 188 miles, a helicopter ride out of the canyon and a charter flight back to our car at Cliff Dwellers Lodge.

We were advised that this trip requires preparation, and travelers must be in good physical condition as it is physically demanding, brings a sense of adventure since we would be spending a week in a wilderness environment – meaning no running water, no air conditioning, no hot showers, no developed bathroom facilities and most importantly, no electricity or internet! We thought if this is how we could truly experience Grand Canyon, then let’s do it!

On Day 1, we had an introductory orientation and set expectations; packing our belongings inside provided day and night dry bags. Then we were shuttled 20 miles down to the Colorado River where we met the crew. After loading up, the guides explained safety on the river and introduced us to our S-Rig rafts, our transport for the week on the river. The S-Rig raft can carry a week’s supply of food and drinks, luggage, and essential camping and rafting gear.

We were full of anticipation when the motor started humming and pushed onto the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry “mile marker zero.” The weather forecast was for over 100º every day, it was gonna be a scorcher week!

Discoveries along the river

Each day as we floated on the river we realized there is much more to the canyon than can be seen from the top at either the South and North Rims. Down in the remote depths of the canyon we experienced many hidden gems and places we would have never guessed existed. Our experienced boatmen, as they are called, also served as our knowledgeable guides telling river stories, interpreting and pointing out the history and geology, archaeology and other interesting facets of the canyon as we floated along at a casual 8 mph.

There were so much to see and it was non-stop awe!

Not unexpected, I took so many pictures that my phone overheated due to the heat. It was a challenge to choose which ones would make their way into this post! So, relax and float with us. These are just a few of the highlights from our seven-day rafting adventure.

At mile 39.7 we stopped to check out the Marble Canyon Dam site proposed in the 1950’s:

At mile 61.7, the Little Colorado River (LCR) joins the Colorado River, making it the largest tributary of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon:

We stopped here and hiked for about half a mile and noticed the turquoise/baby- blue waters which is one of its most distinctive features. It’s color is due to its high mineral content (calcium carbonate and various salts).

And I joined the group to do a river slide at the Little Colorado River.

Near mile 62.5 is the site of some remains of a terrible mid-air collision between two commercial airliners. A United DC7 and TWA Super Constellation collided over the butte and surrounding area in 1956. There were no survivors and the disaster at the time was a catalyst for the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Did you know that?

At Mile 88.1 we stopped to cross the Black Suspension Bridge (Kaibab Bridge) which joins two of the main inner canyon trails, the North Kaibab and South Kaibab. Our raft parked at Phantom Ranch beach so we could hike up to the bridge. We always welcomed a short hike after sitting on the raft for hours.

Another short hike but lots of rock scrambling to get to see these hidden natural beauties:

These are just a few of the many incredible things we saw, and I have not even mentioned the geology part of it. But, here is an excellent reference about the geology of Grand Canyon.

The canyon is called Grand for a reason!

And then there were the rapids…

The entire Grand Canyon is 277 miles long but our rafting trip covered only 188 of them and we encountered about 80 distinct rapids. The rating system used in the Grand Canyon, which rates rapids 1 to 10, is a region-specific river scale. A “10” in the Grand Canyon is comparable to a Class 5 rapid elsewhere and we experienced three of those along the way.

90 % of the time we just floated along…

…and 10 % of the time we were running the rapids…

It was usually calm and peaceful as we floated along, and the emerging beauty of the canyon captivated us. Then, our excitement built as we anticipated running the rapids of the day. The splashes of very cold snowmelt water awakened and excited us, and made us shiver with goosebumps. But not for long with that sun blazing down:

Our raft turn around so we can watch Jackson and his raft run the thrilling rapids!

Guess who was doing all of the squealing in these videos?

Most of the time Steve and I sat at the back called the “tea room” so we got less wet, and those who sat in front called the “bath tub” got soaked. I sat on the side on the video below but did not get too wet either. We welcomed the splashes as it was very hot every day.

One of the swampers, Jennings (boatman’s side kick) had his baptism by fire, swimming/floating in one of the rapids. Take a look!

Then I sat down to take this video and got drenched in the process!

Running the rapids was so much fun, exhilarating, and refreshing!

This post is getting long, so I will pause here. You might be wondering how we rough it and live primitively for a week and how we got out from the canyon. Stay tuned for that, it’s coming up next.

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Next Up: Roughing it